Style-wonkette notes about fashion and personal style from Fort Smith, Arkansas, deep in rural America. For mature women, beldames, women of a certain age, matriarchs and fully grown-up females. Age is not nearly as important as your eye for style.

Monday, October 28, 2013

As you all know, plumbing problems are
the biggest pain in the tuchas. They're not only intimidating,
destructive, sometimes difficult and often expensive to repair, but they
can make you feel defeated and deprived. In this case, it was a dying
pressure relief valve on our water heater, and the failure of this
single piece of plumbing hardware took away our hot water, making it
really hard to maintain basic hygiene ( yak!) It also deprived me of
long, luxurious soaks in my tub, and made it impossible to
color my hair.

(This is a new pressure relief valve. It is not as innocent as it looks.)

The fix for this snafu was simple in
theory: turn off the water, disconnect and unscrew this little item,
screw another one in, reconnect it, then turn the water back on and
you're back in business. The problem is that the little bastards have a tendency to
seize up and won't budge. This one was just such a stubborn little bastard.
Much heaving and hammering, huffing and straining ensued. Without boring you with all the details, it took us several days (!!)
to get it unstuck and get our hot water back. And when we did, we
were seriously proud of our accomplishment. (Dan was the one to
actually make it move, but I take credit for taking many futile turns at
yarding on the pipe wrench, and the eventual application of the
penetrating oil that finally dissolved the mineral deposits that made it
stick. )

Reasonably, you ask, "What has
this to do with personal style?" The answer is this: the
triumph one feels over a big plumbing problem solved is a huge confidence builder. That burst of self-assurance combined with the
giddy, celebratory relief of having your hot water back is so heady
that you can suddenly feel confident enough to wear whatever you damn well want to.

My little black tulle skirt has been
hanging in my closet for months, and I've never worn it for fear of
looking like a modern Miss Havisham. So full of self-esteem was I
that it suddenly seemed just the thing to do. A woman who can help fix her
own plumbing and manage excellent hygiene for days without hot water
from the tap should be able to wear a tulle skirt with aplomb.

I
swear that when I opened the closet, I heard that little wisp of a
skirt whisper "Now... now is the time ..." in that
swishy, scratchy, soft voice that tulle would have if it possessed
the ability to speak. I also pulled out the black nylons with
the tiny polka dots, just for this special occasion. Woo hoo! I
thought my new, black, moto-ish jacket helped push this combination
right over the edge.

I wore the whole outfit to the restaurant on
Saturday evening and had the best time! I'm unlikely to wear it
often, but it felt good to try it at least once. And not one person
thought it was a Halloween costume. Or said so, anyway.

Here's Dan feeling too cool to be seen
without shades. He's not only happy to have the job accomplished,
he's relieved that I'm no longer freaking out. He's also wearing
one of his Phillip Lim for Target shirts that he found on the
clearance rack. He had a good week several ways.

~*~*~*~*~*~

So ... thanks for reading, have a great week and remember:

Wherever the confidence or inspiration comes from, whether it's from the pages of Vogue or Plumbing for Dummies, it can feel wonderful to grab it and run with it!

~*~*~*~*~*~

Late Breaking News! At last, I'm in time to link up with the Fabulously Talented and Intriguingly Interesting Spy Girl, Anneand her 52 Pick-Me-Up linky party! I'm going to visit with the most interesting women ... join me!

Monday, October 14, 2013

This is about as close to a "Carrie
Moment" as I've had. (Carrie Bradshaw, not the Stephen King sad Carrie that had the bucket of pig blood dumped on her
head and retaliated by psychically burning and exploding her entire town. I've
had fantasies like this, too, but that's a story for another day.)
If you don't recognize the contraption I'm grasping possessively, it's a "four
straight-armed commercial clothes rack". All shiny and perfect
and with locking rollers. And although it looks like I'm either making a V for Victory or indicating
"Peace, baby" in the photo, I am actually telling you how
many of these clothes racks I have! Two!

I'm so happy.

Dan saw a dozen or so of these sitting
on the mall sidewalk outside what had been the Goody's clothing
store. The store was closing forever and the doors were open only to
liquidate it's fixtures. I've wanted some just like these
forever, but I didn't want to stop and inquire about them, sure that they wanted too pretty a penny for them. But Dan wanted to check them out,
just in case. He often has a nose for great bargains. (He of the
vintage tan cashmere overcoat he got for a song, years ago in
Seattle. I don't even own any cashmere!)

"Twenty dollars ... for two,"
said the very nice young lady who was working the liquidation sale.

"Yes, please!" we said, in
unison. "Really ... for two of them? We'll take two! Thank
you!"

We were driving our little car, so we
had to disassemble them to get them home, but we managed. And I now am on my way to having one of our
extra bedrooms converted into a walk-in closet, sort of. Remember
Carrie Bradshaw and the walk-in closet of her dreams? It's not in Big's
Manhattan town house, but I know how she felt. And Dan gave me that
fantasy for a mere $20.00 and a little quality time with a wrench and
a pair of pliers. It's only a step, but it is a step.
What a guy.

**********

And look ... I gotz boyfriend jeans!
Not the most flattering pants I've ever worn, but I surprised how
much fun they were to wear, rolled up and with ankle booties from Target adorned
with a satisfying number of straps and buckles.

Additionally, the
excellently fitting, perfectly priced black blazer is one less item
I have to check off my Fall Lust List. I'm not the one in our
family that loves a bargain just for it's own sake, but I have to say
I'm a fan of precisely the right thing at a price I can actually
afford.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Update:

Monday 10/21

Nope, not deja vu. I'm joining Traveling Patti and all the gang at Visible Monday with this little post that many of you have already seen. Apologies go out to you for that, and I'll try to get back on track fast! IRL, I'm off to try to finish repairing the water heater. Now where did I put that pipe wrench ...

Monday, October 7, 2013

It's here. It's That Time of Year.
There is almost a hard-wired, instinctual quality to my desire to go
On Quest when fall arrives. It's elemental. I raise my snoot to the
wind coming from the Big City, and sniff the air for the faint spoor
of delivery trucks bringing Fall/Winter 2013 items into the shops.
My pulse picks up and the blood rushes a little quicker in
anticipation of the hunt. Predatory stalking analogies for my enthusiasm are only a slight
exaggeration.

On a more realistic level, this is more
about another kind of human satisfaction, so perhaps it's better to
say that I'm officially On Quest. I've gone from just thinking about
and longing for fall and winter items, and now I'm actively looking
for specific things to freshen up what I've drug from the back of my
closet from last winter. This is a favorite activity.

The Quest is deeply thematic in our
Western culture and is pan-cultural in all its forms. It's been
analyzed and defined, and tales of our heroes on quest are
immediately recognizable to every child who has ever heard a fairy
tale or read about Harry Potter. Some of the elements present in every
good Quest tale are not limited to but include;

Tasks and processes that requires lots
of effort from hero

Obstacles, forces, creatures or
nemeses that try to prevent the Hero from her quest

Travel of some distance

Distracting
and seductive, exotic or romantic elements

The search for a hidden or difficult
to obtain object of extreme meaning, love, spiritual fulfillment, or
magical power

Does that or does that not perfectly
describe trying to find some particular new item for your fall
wardrobe on a weekend trip to the stores, shops or Mall? It does
from my perspective, but I'm up for it anyway.

Real life Quest Elements include;

Parking, or lack of it

Other people's screaming children (bless their dear little hearts...)

Fellow shoppers unconscious of others while in mobile phone conversations (especially those that I don't want to hear)

Nonexistent or difficult sales
staff

Lack of selection and/or sizes

Finances are always a force to
be reckoned with

Travel: everything I want is at least
40 miles away

Distracting or seductive elements: it's
the magpie in me that causes me to gravitate to "that shiny
object over there" instead of the task at hand. (The good thing
about it is that I've obtained some of my most beloved clothes and
accessories that way.)

Certainly, my wardrobe has meaning for
me, if not exactly spiritual fulfillment. And I know for a fact that
some clothes are simply magical.

I'm not a window shopper. I don't
usually browse unless I'm looking for a particular item, and since I
only have three or four total hours available per week for this
sometimes problematic activity, I tend to get organized in planning
the process and can exhibit a serious "singleness of purpose"
when I'm about it.

Like all heroes, I'm armed with my
special weapons or virtues. In this case, that's my seasonal Wish
List. I began work on it a month or so ago, when I began reviewing
last winter's wardrobe. Happily, after they've been a few months in storage, I
can look at each item and make a quick decision whether to rejoice
and welcome it back into rotation, cull it completely or put it on
hold. It's the keeper items that send me On Quest. This year, I'm
extra pleased to report that I'm good on a lot of basics due to paying
closer attention to what I was doing last fall!

After review, I begin adding items to
the list. Some of the items I'm looking for this fall are;

Chain necklaces in
various metals

A bright handbag or
two to pair with neutrals ... and I'm looking for a lot of neutrals

Looser silhouette pants
( It's past time to figure out what Boyfriend Jeans actually are and
how I might try to wear them ... sigh....)

Mid-heel pumps (yummmm
... )

Select colors in above
the ankle booties (already have plenty of black, need cordovan or
oxblood!)

That elusive Navy
blazer I've wanted for two seasons now

An additional
interesting A-Line or fuller skirt or two

Within the list are some general
conceptual maxims and caveats;

Don't panic or get too
caught up and buy a bunch of stuff ... do what you can and really
shop your closet for silhouettes.

Simple outfits will
take great accessories ... not many, but good ones.

Minimal thinking ...
you haz it! All will be silhouette and textures.

But the really big caveat
that I've repeated like a mantra is this:

Hold out for True
Love. Don't buy it if it just appeals. All purchases must be True
Love or nothing.

We'll see how I do with all that. Stay
tuned.

At last we had a cool day where a
jacket was needed! This is a recent bargain from DKNY. The top part
is knit, with a wide, peplum-esque finish on the bottom. Dan loves
this outfit ... he's a fan of Breton Stripes, deep wine colors and the fact that
I was wearing Chloé.

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"Women always try to tame themselves as they get older, but the ones who look best are often a bit wilder. Thinking about age all the time is the biggest prison women can make for themselves." - Miuccia Prada